Veteran IPS officer K Vijay Kumar, who led the high-profile operation that neutralised forest brigand Veerappan, has been awarded the Padma Shri for distinguished service, recognising his decades-long contribution to strategic policing and counter-insurgency operations.
A 1975-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, Kumar, 74, retired from active service in 2012. He is among the 113 Padma Shri awardees announced this year. The Padma Shri is India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, awarded for distinguished service in various fields.
Kumar is best known for heading the Tamil Nadu Police Special Task Force that killed Veerappan in 2004 in a meticulously planned operation code-named “Cocoon”. The operation brought an end to Veerappan’s prolonged reign of violence across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Kumar later chronicled the mission in his book “Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand”, offering detailed insights into jungle warfare and intelligence-led policing.
During his career, Kumar held several key positions, including Chennai Police Commissioner, Inspector General of the Border Security Force in Kashmir, and Director of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad. He was appointed Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force in 2010 following the deadliest Maoist ambush on the force.
On April 6, 2010, Maoists killed 75 CRPF personnel and a state police jawan in a deadly ambush at Tadmetla in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. Under Kumar’s leadership, the CRPF significantly intensified counter-Naxal operations. One of the major successes during his tenure was the killing of Maoist leader Kishenji by CRPF’s elite CoBRA unit in West Bengal in November 2011.
Kumar retired as CRPF Director General in 2012 and later served as a security adviser in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He also advised the Jammu and Kashmir Governor on security matters and was re-appointed as a senior security adviser in the MHA in 2019. He is currently based in Bengaluru and Chennai.
The government citation described Kumar as a key architect of strategic policing against Naxalism and organised crime, noting his expertise in jungle warfare and counter-insurgency. Reacting to the honour, Kumar credited his teams for their collective efforts, saying the award was a tribute to all those he worked with. The Padma Shri, the citation said, recognises not only individual leadership but also institutional contributions that strengthened India’s internal security framework.
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